The usual tumult, common to the forced union of the White Fang and the antagonistic group, greets the two partners as soon as their feet crosses the threshold.

The Faunus terrorist group talking at varying volumes and moving about, boxes are being transported on all sides, steampunk ambience, and–

"Oh, look! She sent the kids again!" The orange-haired criminal sauntered towards them, going behind Emerald and Mercury, then putting his gloved hands around their shoulders. "This is turning out just like the divorce." Roman says with the mellow tone of his voice.

Emerald voiced out a little shiver, and the two underlings pushed his arms away. "Spare us the thought of you procreating." Roman slowly walked on, eyeing her from the corner of his eye. "That was a joke. And this–" The criminal brings up a hand and reveals a small loose-leaf note. "Just might tell me where you two have been all day."

"What?!" Emerald looks down at her pockets, then returns her gaze to the ruthless gentleman. "I'm a professional, sweetheart. Pay attention, and maybe you'll learn something..." Roman reads what's on the paper before glaring at the male-female duo. "Why do you have this address?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emerald points her finger at him and then retrieves the slender joint back to her side. Roman frowns, now in front of the pink-haired vampire. "Yeah, I would. Now, where have you been all day?"

Walking up to the wanted criminal and jabbing a finger at his direction, Mercury begins to speak, "Cleaning up your problems—one of them at least."

"I had that under control." Roman growls through his gritted teeth. "Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise." The silver assassin debunked with a blank look.

"Listen, you little punk. If it were up to me, I would take you and your little street red friend here, and I would–"

"Do what, Roman?" Her voice resounded through the entire warehouse along with her heels lightly clicking against the metal pavement. As soon as she unveiled herself from the shadows, all they could see was the depths of crescent fire. Moreover, her red dress echoed the color of her eyes. Sharp, fierce, yet deadly at the same time.

Reaching the metallic board, it sets off downwards and safely brings their leader to the ground. Upon hearing and seeing her arrival, Roman lets out a brittle laugh. "I... Uh... Not kill them...?"

"Cinder!" Emerald calls out her name with delight while Mercury holds a small smile on his lips. Their faction leader walked across the open space in an elegant manner, her bright amber eyes only focusing on the green-eyed vampire. "I thought I made it clear that you were to eliminate the would-be runaway."

"I was going to..." Roman murmured under his breath, though Emerald interrupted his sentence, "He was going to escape to Vacuo. Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat." The female associate proudly pronounces at the end of her sentence.

"Excuse me. Sorry, I'm not really from around here." The latter lends her hand to the elderly man she bumped into. Knowing that no harm was done on purpose, he smiled and grabbed her palm, raising himself off of the concrete with Emerald's help and standing back on both feet.

The mint-haired lass takes out a small piece of paper with an address written in bold black ink. "Um, would you mind pointing me in the direction of this shop?"

The man shot a curious glance at the sheet of paper, but agreed to help Emerald and leveled his finger at the shop, which was down the street from his newly-opened outlet. After an expression of gratitude, the female associate waved at the elder from afar before proceeding to the destination of the establishment.

On her way there, she comes across an open corner to see none other than...

"I knew you were lost."

The mint-green thief stopped her movements shortly after she heard her silver companion, crossing over in a couple of strides. "Mercury." She takes out a small wallet filled with cash, grasping the pocket-sized holder. "I will seriously pay you to shut up."

With a raised brow and his smug smile, he shook his head. "That's not your money."

"But it could be yours for five minutes of silence." Emerald proposed with a fake grin. Giving it a thought, the silver-haired vampire gave a plain response. "No deal."

His answer earned an irritated groan from the female as she took the papers out of the flat wallet and threw the notecard onto the ground, beginning to walk off into the distance. "Whatever. You want me." Mercury chuckled and chased after his female partner.

"For your information, I don't go for idiots like you or guys in general."

"Woah, I didn't know you swing that way. And I'm not saying it's wrong or anything, so don't point your guns at me."

"Well, now you do. So, zip it and let's get this over with. But if you manage to get under my skin again, then I'll gladly take your proposition and actually kill you here and now."

"Alright, alright. Take a chill pill, jeez." With that, the two subordinates find themselves in silence as they walk with the sound of passing traffic and the growing commotion of the citizens.

Occasionally, Mercury tries to make some small talk with the female vampire, but the thief fancies none of his jokes; instead, she would much rather put this douche out of his misery and call it a day. But... unfortunately, amicide wasn't on her list today. Cinder would probably kill her if she did that. Yet he was such an annoyance! The woman didn't care for him either, but this was their job as murderers. Criminals. Thieves. They were obviously sinners.

And right now, they're only living to serve and take orders from Cinder herself. Really, it seems sad, but this is pathetic for all sides. If only they hadn't...

"This is the place, huh? Tukson's Book Trade?" The silver assassin sneaked a peek at the prosaic sign. "Kind of dull and boring, don't you think? It opened recently, but look how drab the place is."

"Try to keep your mouth shut when we get inside, Mercury. We're here for one thing and that's to get rid of the target. Got it? No small talks. No–"

"Okay, I got it. Sheesh. What are you, my mom or something?"

With a growl of frustration, she tightened her grip around the door handle, nearly breaking the thing into pieces. "Just follow my lead, and don't screw this up."

He nonchalantly follows her inside, immediately going towards one of the bookshelves that contained picture books. While Mercury buries himself in an illustrated collection of novels, Emerald strolled to the empty counter and rang the bell to notify the owner of their entry.

"Be right there!" The bookstore owner, Tukson, enters the scene by pushing the doors behind the counter open. Two stacks of books kept his arms occupied, but that didn't stop the Faunus from interacting and welcoming his customers. "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade! Home to every book under the sun. How may–"

The lean, muscular man stops himself midway through his sentence, getting a good look at Emerald and Mercury before resuming with his question. "How may I help you?"

This is where they begin to plant their downfall. Emerald asked Tukson about the stock and availability of certain books she named, but the affable, friendly attitude no longer exists in her eyes and tone after the Faunus owner told her that the book she was looking for wasn't in stock. Mercury even goes as far as to criticize the catchphrase, "It's false advertising!"

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson." Mercury strode over to the front door and began to dim the lights as Emerald continued to interrogate Tukson. "I hear you're planning on leaving, moving all the way to Vacuo. Your brothers in the White Fang wouldn't be happy to hear that, and neither are we."

It takes a few moments for everything to lapse into place, for their eyes to adapt to the darkness of the room. Only then does the female thief get straight to the point. "You know who we are, don't you?" A malicious smile formed on her cheeks as she kept her eyes on the Faunus runaway.

Even though death was around the corner for him, the man hadn't given way to fear or panic. Only a calm mask of professionalism, though hearing the name of his former brethren formed his stern face. "Yes." Tukson replied calmly, without raising his voice or hinting at any anger.

"And you know why we're here?"

"Yes."

"So, are you going to fight back?" Emerald questioned him while Mercury moseyed across the room to close the distance between him and his partner. Although Tukson hesitated for a couple of seconds, he yelled, "YES!"

Undergoing his Faunus transformation, his retractable claws extended from his fingertips and his features became much more feral. He leaped onto the counter and readied himself for whatever has to come next. Tukson lunged forward, missing his attack on Emerald and falling into Mercury's hands (or feet).

The young lad contracted his mouth into a triumphant smirk, then went to kick and shoot Tukson with his prosthetic leg. The whole upper part of his body is no longer attached, leaving only a bloody mess and flesh that's going to be left to decay in time.

Blood streamed from the gaping wound on his head, and his lifeless body hit the floor with a terrific thud. Tukson's corpse presented a horrific emblem of death—a most gruesome murder that will forever change and leave an impact on someone that he has associated and familiarized himself with over time.

And the last thing the bookstore owner could think about was his promise to you.

"I'm sorry, [Y/N]... I hope you'll forgive me for breaking our promise, dear friend..."

Once the blow is dealt, the red sea that captures the walls is acrid and bitter, yet the warm, fresh blood from an individual that was just living seconds ago is dripping everywhere. As the two vampires leave the crime scene, the world stills. The walls tumble and everything goes silent.

The male Faunus wished he could say goodbye to his friend one last time. Just to see his friend in this final moment of life. Wanting to see and tell her how much of a great friend she was–

...

Mercury soared a glance at his partner, adding to her statement, "I think he was some sort of cat actually." Emerald chuckled and asked back, "What? Like a puma?"

"Yeah, there you go."

"Quiet. Did I not specifically instruct you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?" Cinder notes with a scowl on her face, and the two partners cease all funny business around her. While she wasn't looking, Roman quietly laughed and provoked them by making hand gestures, like how a kid would react if they saw someone who they didn't like getting scolded for something.

"I just thought..."

"Don't think. Obey."

Without hesitation, Emerald obliged, yet the look in her dark-green eyes said otherwise. "Yes, ma'am. It won't happen again." And she steeled herself back in place to avoid another angry rebuke from the one that has granted her this life.

"And you..." Cinder comes back to Roman, only to hear nervous laughter coming out of his mouth. "Why wasn't this job done sooner?"

"Uhhh... Eh?" Roman aimed his cane at the loads of crates on one side, then directed his hand to a set of boxes. "Ehh?" And, with both arms, he lifted them up and yelled, "Ehhhh?! Sorry, if I've been a little busy stealing every speck of Dust in the kingdom!"

"You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask." Mercury comments out of the blue, but Roman doesn't take charm with his remark.

"Look around, kid. I've got this town running scared. Police camping out at every corner, Dust prices through the roof, AND we're sitting pretty in an old warehouse with more Dust Crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with!" He turns on his heel and puts Melodic Cudgel behind him, balling his gloved hand into a fist. "Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grandmaster plan, it might actually make my next stream of robberies go a little smoother."

"Oh, Roman. Have a little faith." The dark-haired malefactor steps closer to the lean male, her hand reaching up to his face and the tips of her fingers barely touch his jaw. "You'll know what you need when you need to know." Her eyes lit with such dominance, producing a fiery amber luminescence that resembled red-hot magma.

Roman knew that if he disobeyed, then that would be the end of him. He wanted to live beautifully as a criminal, but to be fired away into a pile of ashes wasn't in his best interest. Although he had a different flow than any of them, he could only guess to go along with it. Though it was a protesting groan, Cinder acknowledges this as his acceptance and retracts her hand.

"Besides, we're done with Dust." The women's eyes have watered down into their original color and walked back to her subordinates. The man hadn't fully understood her intentions nor her sentence, questioning, "Okay...then what now?"

"We're moving. Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight." The calm and authoritative woman commanded him, turning and trailing leisurely on her heels.

Roman stood in deep thought, but fixed his eyes back onto the faction leader. "Coordinates?" Cinder faces him with an indifferent frown, her gaze still piercing through the orange-haired crook. "We're proceeding to phase two."

Before any of them could leave the room, a particular silhouette had taken shape underneath the dark reign of shadows. He was looking at them—his eyes hollow with the color of rich, deep red, his gaze penetrating, and boring into their souls, similar to a mount of chains to retain their whole body still.

"Do we really have to move? I quite like this place—it's dark, rustic, and rather comforting, to say the least." The man pushes himself off of the wall, his hands trailing back into his pockets as he steps out of the darkness and into the light to reveal his face.

His mouth expanded in a grin, small but abominable. The unpleasant scenery forces the three subordinates to take a tentative step back, and an intense wave of fear and panic builds up in their chest. All except Cinder shared the same look and a common question: 'Why did they even need him?'

Sure, they were criminals and did some dirty work, but this man has done way more than that. From killing Humans to slaughtering his own race for entertainment. Leisure. Enjoyment. Seriously, what was Cinder thinking when recruiting this infamous killer into the faction?!

Emerald and Mercury hadn't dared move nor say anything, but Roman had different motives from the duo and vocalized his response to the new situation. "What the hell is going on inside your pretty little head?! Do you understand the major risks we could possibly receive if he's in our league? This is madness!"

Roman appeared to be losing it, like a ticking bomb waiting to explode at any minute now. The furrow on his brow lifts momentarily before settling into a deep frown. This wasn't part of the plan—not to him at least. As he said before, if things went his way then he would've played it safe and not round up a crazed killer. Nothing ever goes well with someone that's begun and ended a cold-blooded massacre.

Although still overwrought with a confused mixture of emotions, Roman drags in a vital breath. With his free hand, he reached up to his nose and pinched it, almost like the gesture alone will allow him all the forbearance in the world to carry on with this conversation—the whole plan, really.

"Do you□ have any idea what you've just done, Cinder?" Emerald and Mercury were completely baffled by the furious tone of his voice. Earlier, the orange-haired gentleman was scared witless when Cinder arrived, but there was something different about him now... The male-female pair never attempted to challenge or defy Cinder, especially when she's fuming with rage. Disobeying the elemental user meant only one outcome and that would be death.